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Big Homes Plan in the Works for Yorba Linda

Big Homes Plan in the Works for Yorba Linda

By DANIEL D. WILLIAMS

The sale of 40 acres of former Yorba Linda oilfield land could be the last puzzle piece for a sprawling housing development in the city’s northeastern section,if several area landowners can come up with a unified plan.

Summit Real Estate Group, an Aliso Viejo-based developer, recently bought the 40 acres for an undisclosed price with plans to build estate homes ranging from $700,000 to more than $1 million. The land was owned by what’s now ChevronTexaco Corp.

But development is some time off. The parcel is part of what Yorba Linda planners call the Murdock general area plan, a 600-acre swath of land that rolls over the Chino foothills.

The area takes its name from majority land owner David Murdock, a Bel Air multimillionaire and chief executive of Westlake Village-based Dole Food Co. He’s also owner of Los Angeles real estate developer and owner Castle & Cooke Co.

Murdock’s holdings account for more than 200 acres, while Summit and five other landowners make up the rest.

Yorba Linda planners say they want to see development on the site. But they envision one masterplanned community, not pieces here and there.

Summit’s land is zoned for 40 residential lots, which fits in with Yorba Linda’s plans for a low-density residential community with owners agreeing to build only a spacious one home per acre.

“Yorba Linda has low densities in general,” said Bruce Cook, Yorba Linda’s principal planner. “And this community will not exceed one unit per acre.”

The city has another stipulation for potential projects: they all must coexist within a single, comprehensive plan. That means the different landowners are going to have to coordinate their projects and make them work as one on the hilly terrain.

“It needs an integrated development plan so you can get the sensitized access plan,” Cook said. “It will not be a mass-grading concept of flattening the land. It will be sensitive to the natural landform.”

Without a plan, the project is likely to sit on the backburner. But the process of bringing together landowners for a single project isn’t uncommon in Yorba Linda, which gives developers such as Summit reason for optimism that the various factions will agree to push a collective project through.

So far, the adjacent Casino Ridge project, being planned by Newport Beach-based Woodbridge Development, is further along than the Murdock land. Casino Ridge brought together multiple landowners under one plan that allows for some 80 homes on the 100-acre parcel.

“They have the maps approved, but the house plans are not yet approved,” Cook said.

Rick Simmons, Summit’s principal, is set to be the point man to bring together the Murdock area landowners, according to Jim Greene of the Orange County office of Mill Valley-based Regional Land Co., who represented Summit in the land buy.

“Somebody’s got to bring all those homebuilders and owners together to make it all work,” Greene said. “The city made it clear that it will only consider this project if the individual pieces are brought together under a masterplan.”

Simmons has “been trying to coordinate it the past couple of years as a facilitator. Now he’s one of the landowners,” Greene said.

Simmons once was president of ECI Land Co., a predecessor of the Green Park Group, which is an owner of Santa Margarita Ranch in San Luis Obispo.

Once completed, the Murdock land will be on par with Yorba Linda’s Vista Verde golf community, minus the golf course, according to Greene.

Homes on the Summit land are set to offer a double view, according to Greene.

“Residents will be able to see Diamond Bar to the east and Catalina to the west,” he said.

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